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Waze has a number of measures to reduce distractions and keep your eyes on the road ahead, but there has been one inescapable distraction: you usually have to touch the screen to get things done. That's a problem, especially in areas where distracted driving laws make it illegal to poke at your phone while on the move. It shouldn't be a problem for much longer. Waze's latest update includes a hands-free navigation option that lets you handle most tasks using only your voice. Say "OK, Waze" and you can navigate to a destination or report a traffic jam without losing focus.

Google Maps may be a cornerstone of navigation for many people, but its visual presentation can occasionally leave something to be desired. Why would you care about gas stations when you're taking the subway? To that end, Google is giving Maps a fresh look that adapts to your travel methods and what you're looking for. If you're taking public transportation, it'll highlight stops and route lines; if you're exploring the area, it'll focus more on points of interest. Each location type will have distinct colors and icons, too, so it should be easier to find a restaurant or movie theater if you're new to the area.

You may have seen augmented reality navigation before, but the arrival of AR-native frameworks is making it considerable slicker and more accessible. Case in point: Blippar. Its just-launched AR City app for iOS uses Apple's ARKit to clearly outline where you have to walk, and highlights nearby points of interest based on what you can actually see. And more importantly, it promises to be more accurate than GPS alone. The app uses visual inertial odometry (that is, interpreting movement seen through the camera) to minimize distance errors and prevent you from turning on to a side street by mistake.

If you've taken enough Lyft rides, you've probably noticed that drivers have to switch to a navigation app before they start driving. It'd be nice if they could just get going, wouldn't it? They will now: Lyft has added built-in Google Maps navigation to its driver app. Once you've buckled up, your drivers can take you to your destination with the same app they used to pick you up. Google Maps is only available in the Android version of the app right now, but it's "coming soon" for iPhone-toting drivers.

London's public transport system is pretty robust, with plenty of Tubes, buses and overground lines zig-zagging across the city. At rush hour, though, squeezing onto a crammed DLR carriage can be a total nightmare. One alternative is a taxi-hailing app like Gett, which for some time now has been pushing Gett Together, a ride-sharing service that operates on preset routes across the city. Today, the company is announcing Black Bus 1, a new route that operates between Highbury & Islington and Waterloo. The expansion is notable because it was designed using data supplied by mobile navigation app (and now bus route operator) Citymapper.

Google's Street View cameras haven't changed significantly in 8 years, and that's a problem when the technology world most certainly has. How is the company supposed to fulfill its AI ambitions with 2009-era hardware? Thankfully, it won't have to. Google has revealed to Wired that it's implementing a brand new camera design that should not only produce higher quality Street View imagery, but will prove crucial to Google's use of AI to index real-world locations.

Google Maps has become the de facto way to get from point A to point B. But for commuters and Uber/Lyft drivers, Waze -- with Google's transit information overlaid and crowdsourced data -- has become invaluable. The only problem is that while Google Maps is part of Android Auto, Waze still requires you to stick your phone to your dash/windshield. That is, until now.

It can be a pain to upload your own Street View photos even if you have a 360-degree camera. You may have to stop to take photos every few feet, and then there's the question of getting the spherical shots from your camera to the internet. Google thinks it can help. It's working with hardware partners on "Street View ready" standards that will certify 360-degree cameras based on how easily you can post shots. Street View mobile ready devices let you post directly from an app, with no PC required; auto ready cameras, meanwhile, are designed for capturing high-accuracy shots from your car. VR ready cameras collect the geometry you need for (what else?) virtual reality and connected 360-degree shots, while workflow ready cameras come with publishing tools that upload directly to Street View. In at least some cases, uploading is just a matter of recording some footage (even on the move) and loading an app.

You think you're better at giving directions than John Cleese and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well now's your chance to prove it with the "Waze Voice Recorder". Waze debuted the new feature on Monday, though it's currently only available on Android and there's no word on when it will be ported to iOS.

You likely know that Microsoft packed a lot of improvements into the Windows 10 Creators Update, but there are still a few surprises left... particularly if you use Windows' built-in navigation app to get from A to B. Microsoft has detailed Creators' numerous Maps upgrades, many of which revolve around planning trickier routes. For one, you can create multi-stop routes. That's nothing new if you use Google Maps, but it's a big deal any time you use Microsoft's default tools.

Few of us think about the driver experience when we hail an Uber. We open the app, summon a car and then clamber into the backseat, peering at our phones or talking to friends until we arrive at our destination. But for a trip to work seamlessly, it's important that your chauffeur knows exactly where you are and where you're going. With this in mind, the company has set out on a major revamp of its driver app, improving navigation on iOS and, for the first time, offering turn-by-turn directions in Android.

Drivers use their smartphone for both navigation and music, so why not put the two together? Waze and Spotify have announced that they've done just that: You can now navigate with Waze within Spotify and access Spotify playlists from Waze. After you set up a playlist, it will automatically play when you start your journey, while letting you "easily" change songs. At the same time, you can browse playlists (and switch from one app to the other) when your vehicle is at a full stop.

A parking difficulty icon popped up in an Android beta for Google Maps earlier this month, but now the feature is officially rolling out. However, there are a couple of caveats. First, the parking warnings are only available in the Android version of Google Maps for now. The new tool will also only warn you about potential parking headaches in 25 US metro areas.

Cycling in a city can be stressful, especially if you're headed somewhere that you've never been to before. Most people ride with a specialized cycle computer, or with a smartphone strapped to their handlebars. While useful, both devices can be a distraction on busy, dangerous roads. Instructive turn-by-turn directions also do little to improve your street-level knowledge -- the screen becomes a crutch, rather than a tool to help you learn about the various roads, bridges and tunnels around you.

Google Maps can already tell you how congested your drive will be, but how about when you arrive? It looks like the app is about to give you at least a decent idea about the parking situation, thanks to a new feature spotted in the latest 9.44 beta by Android Police. Availability of spaces at a selected destination is shown as "easy," "medium" and "limited," with the latter situation highlighted in red. Once you start navigating, it'll give further details in the instructions, indicating that parking around your arrival address is "usually not easy" or "limited," for instance.

Whether you're on the open road or just trying to make it to work in one piece, getting where you're going is hassle enough -- even when there isn't traffic to be stuck in. Garmin's latest iterations of its Drive GPS navigation systems will soon be receiving a host of features that will deliver live updates and easier-to-follow directions in hopes of changing driver behaviors for the safer.

For over a year now, Google Maps and Search have been telling people when stores, bars and restaurants are likely to be busy. Now, it's going one step further. From today, searching for a business via Google will not only show you when it's typically crowded, but also an estimation of how busy it is right now. So if you see that a particular store is very full you can plan to head somewhere else. It's hoped that the feature will help users avoid the worst of the crowds over Thanksgiving long weekend, and beyond.

There are a couple of other additions rolling out today. Place listings in Search and Maps will now tell you how long the typical stay is at a location, so if you people usually spend two hours at a restaurant, you can plan the rest of your day accordingly. Finally, Maps will now list more complex opening hours. "You'll know what time to pop by the pharmacy at your local drugstore or supermarket, when food delivery begins at a nearby restaurant and what the service hours are at the auto dealership," said Google.

Modern neural networks are good at making quick, reactive decisions and recognizing patterns, but they're not very skilled at the careful, deliberate thought that you need for complex choices. Google's DeepMind team may have licked that problem, however. Its researchers have developed a memory-boosted neural network (a "differentiable neural computer") that can create and work with sophisticated data structures. If it has a map of the London Underground, for example, it could figure out the quickest path from stop to stop or tell you where you'd end up after following a route sequence.

Prefer to travel cross-country by rail? If you're an iPhone owner, you no longer need to fire up a third-party app to plan your trip. Apple Maps has introduced support for Amtrak train routes across North America -- if you want to navigate all the way from Los Angeles to Toronto while seeing the sights, you can make it happen. You'll need to live in an area where Apple's mass transit directions are available, of course, but this remains a big deal if you're more interested in how you travel than the time it takes.

The "Ok Google" command has expanded since the debut of Android KitKat, allowing devices to respond in various smart ways to those two words. Now, Google Maps on Android has this ability too, whether you're in the middle of a road trip or doing something else. Once it's enabled in settings, you can choose whether it works only while Maps is open or from any screen. Say the magic phrase then follow it up with something like "find a gas station" or "How's traffic ahead?" and it will let you know.

However smart your car might be, there's only so much it can tell you by itself. Wouldn't it be nice if cars regularly shared helpful driving info beyond what you offer in mobile apps? Here thinks so. It's launching services that will have cars automatically sharing real-time data to improve commutes for everyone. Vehicles (starting with those from Here owners Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz) will use their sensors and cameras to offer details on free parking spaces, traffic conditions, and road hazards. You'd know that a parking spot has opened up, or that heavy rain is forcing drivers ahead to slow down.

Sure, your existing phone apps can tell you when to catch the bus and when to hop off, but public transportation fans know that's only half the story. What if the driver is quicker than you expected, or a delay ruins your subway connection? Transit might just save the day. It's updating its Android and iOS apps with a Go routing feature that could take some of the uncertainty out of commuting. You'll get on-screen and voice notifications when it's time to head out or disembark, but it gets truly interesting when things go haywire. Transit will tell you to hurry up if your departure time suddenly skips ahead, create a new itinerary if you miss a ride and warn you if a bus takes a surprise detour.

Navigation apps like Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze are good for letting you know when you're approaching a traffic jam. Waze is taking that task a bit further with its new Global Event Partner Program. The company is teaming up with organizers of big events like marathons and pro sports to keep you from experiencing unnecessary delays. Those partners will now be able to use the Waze Closure tool to input any scheduled closures ahead of an event. TechCrunch reports that event organizers will be able to add details like turn restrictions, lane reversals, parking locations for more than 65 million users.

Google's next iteration of its popular Maps app looks to be adding a whole bunch of new functions, if the recently released 9.34 beta is any indication. The big news is that the update could include text-based alerts informing users to parking shortages at their destination. This will allow you to account for not just enroute traffic but also fighting for a spot once you get there. It's not like Google can actively track open spaces so the service will more likely be based on the total number of spaces available in given area while taking into account time of day and nearby public sporting/concert events. Still, that's valuable information especially if you aren't a local.

Believe it or not, the mobile version of Google Maps hasn't had support for multiple destinations. You could plan that multi-city tour on the desktop, but you'd still have to navigate one stop at a time on your phone. You might not have to the next time around, though: Google is quietly pushing what appears to be a server-side update to Maps for Android that lets you set multiple stops. You can navigate to a tourist trap, a restaurant and your hotel without having to enter fresh directions every time.